


Home for the Holidays

by Draco_sollicitus



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Anxiety, BB8 is a service dog, F/M, Fluff, Mild Angst, Military, Modern AU, Service Dogs, Thanksgiving, flangst, missing a loved one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-27 22:05:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16710901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draco_sollicitus/pseuds/Draco_sollicitus
Summary: ~A Modern Star Wars Thanksgiving~The holidays can be hard with your loved one far away; with his girlfriend deployed, Poe Dameron is especially grateful for his family's endless love and support on Thanksgiving.





	Home for the Holidays

**Author's Note:**

> I got home from my own family's Thanksgiving about an hour ago and sat down to write this!
> 
> Some notes about the fic: It's revealed that Poe survived a crash that gave him a TBI, which caused him to develop epilepsy. BB8 is his service dog.

 

Rose and Kes are making a slight hubbub in the kitchen, and Poe snorts to himself quietly, unwilling to look away from the game to discover the cause for their quiet argument. Beedle dozes on his lap, and Poe scratches his ears idly every now and then. It’s nice to have his two closest friends and his dad here for Thanksgiving, but there’s a very obvious missing space where someone should be, and Poe tries not to dwell on it.

He’s been doing a lot of that recently; not dwelling on things.

Instead, he sips at his drink - because Poe can’t drink on his meds, Kes had shown up with fancy bottles of nice root beer instead, which everyone was drinking out of solidarity - and focuses on the game, not thinking about how he’s only here because he was too afraid to fly to see his dad, and his dad’s only here because he was worried about Poe being alone on Thanksgiving, and Finn and Rose are here because they probably just feel sorry for Poe and his dad, who are both most definitely missing the women they love around the holidays.

Poe clears his throat and redirects his thoughts entirely, the way his therapist is always instructing him to, and focuses on nice things. His root beer tastes nice, his cardigan is soft and warm, his jeans are comfortable and a little loose, which means he can gorge himself later, and Beedle is toasty on his lap. There are good things in the world, and Poe can celebrate them. It’s what the damn day is for, after all.

“Cranberry sauce!” Kes shouts suddenly. Poe turns from where he’s perched on the couch to frown at his dad.

“Huh?” Beedle wakes up and snuffles at Poe, no doubt concerned of his sudden movement. Poe makes a soft noise in his throat and rubs Beedle’s head, and his dog sniffs his wrist and settles again.

“There’s no damn cranberry sauce!” Kes throws his hands in the air, and Rose frowns, peeking into the cupboard and then into the fridge.

“So?” Poe shrugs and goes back to watching the Lions get demolished. “Who cares? Nobody actually likes that crap.”

“It’s a tradition!” Poe doesn’t have to turn around to know his dad’s hands are in the air. Damerons are animated talkers. “A tradition, Poe!”

He sighs and sets his feet on the floor. “Do you need me to run to the store and get some?”

“I mean,” Kes is smiling slyly when he looks at him again. “...If it isn’t a big deal.”

“No, no, it isn’t.” Poe moves to stand up, and Beedle hops down and sits at his feet expectantly while Poe hunts for his fuzzy socks, stashed somewhere between the - _yep_ , between the cushions.

“No, you looked so comfortable,” Rose protests. “C’mon, sit back down, Finn can go!”

Finn chooses this moment to snore obnoxiously, his head tilted back on the armchair. The mountain of snacks he’d consumed during the parade had clearly caught up to him.

“Fine.” Rose huffs and grabs her keys from her pocket. “I can go.”

“No, you’re helping dad.” Poe shakes his head and goes to get his shoes. “Stay, stay, I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.”

“Um.” Poe glances at his dad, who just cleared his throat. “Well, actually…”

“More than fifteen minutes?” Poe puts his hand on his hip and frowns. Beedle’s waiting for him at his feet.

“...If you’re already going out...Sprouts has really good cranberry sauce.”

Poe pinches the bridge of his nose. “Dad, Sprouts is a twenty minute drive.”

“You’re right.” Kes tsks his tongue and checks the turkey in the oven, somehow making the action look morose. “It’s silly. It’s just-”

“Their cranberry sauce is better?” Poe guesses.

“Way better than the canned stuff.” Kes has the audacity to pout at him, and Poe grumbles and grabs Bee’s harness. “If you don’t mind, of course!”

“You’re making all this food, it’s the least I can do.” Poe glances over at Finn, who still traitorously snores on his armchair - it would have been nice to have some company, but that clearly isn’t happening. “I’ll be back in forty five. Hopefully.” He slips his arms into his leather jacket and shrugs it on. “Anybody else need anything?”

“Nope!” Rose finishes the lattice of the pie and crows in victory, and Kes pats her on the back. “Thanks, Poe!”

“Yes, thank you, mijo. Love you!”

“Love you, pop.” Poe shakes his head in wonderment, and clips Beedle’s leash to his harness. “Thrown out of my own home, and on Thanksgiving, too.”

“Pretty par for the course, given the holiday,” Rose points out, and Poe snorts.

“That’s dark, Rosie. Dark.” With a wave he’s out of the house and walking to his car, Beedle close to his side. The terrier hops in to the car through the driver’s side and goes to sit on the passenger’s seat, and Poe climbs in after him. “Let’s go, buddy.”

They back out of the driveway and start the slight trek to the Sprouts Farmers’ Market across town. When they get there, Poe eyes the massive lines warily but forces himself to take a deep breath - Beedle whines at him, but Poe smiles and puts on a brave face - and they head in.

He finds the cranberry sauce relatively easy - it’s more of a compote, really, and he gags when he sees the price - and he stands in the back of the line to wait, wondering what the hell was wrong with Ocean Spray in the first place. Poe’s in line behind a stressed out looking mom and her five year old daughter, who’s staring at Beedle with wide eyes.

“I like your dog,” she blurts out, and the mom turns to see what the little girl is pointing at.

“Thank you,” Poe says politely, and Beedle stays where he is, sitting primly at Poe’s feet.

“Can I pet him?” The girl asks, and the mother, who’s clearly spotted Beedle’s red vest, grabs the girl’s hand and starts to whisper something, but Poe honestly doesn’t mind answering.

“That’s really nice of you to ask. He’s working though, so he can’t play or anything right now.”

“He’s working?” The girl’s eyes are wide, and she looks at Beedle with what looks like respect.

“Yep.” Poe eyes the mother, who shrugs at him and nods, and Poe continues. “I have epilepsy, and Beedle can smell when I’m about to … get sick.” The kid probably has no idea what epilepsy is, or a seizure, so Poe settles for the easiest explanation.

“Do you get sick a lot?” Her eyes are even wider now.

“It’s better than it used to be,” Poe answers, his gut clenching only slightly. “Beedle trained to help me when I got back from my last tour. I haven’t gotten that kind of sick in a while, but he’s still here to make sure everything’s okay.” It had been almost six months since his last seizure, which meant he was okay to drive in Texas.

“Ah.” The girl grins at him, wide and toothy. “Beedle’s a cool name.”

“It really is,” Poe agrees, and they shuffle forward more in line. He learns that the girl’s name is Tara, and the mom’s name is Sarah (“but they don’t rhyme,” Tara says solemnly), and her dad is currently overseas, and she misses him a whole lot.

“My girlfriend is deployed right now,” Poe says, exchanging a sympathetic smile with the mom, Sarah. “I miss her a lot, too.”

“It’s hard at the holidays,” Sarah says softly, beginning to load her basket onto the conveyor belt. “But Will’s parents live here too and that helps.”

Poe and Tara continue to chat about Beedle, and he tells her that he’s a Cairn Terrier, and he’s naturally good at smelling when Poe’s going to be sick - although “he still had to train really hard” - and Tara tells him about her class play and the fact that they’re running late to go her grandparents, and they only stopped because “Mom burnt the first cookies”. The mother and daughter stick around as Poe pays for his ridiculously expensive cranberry crap, and they walk out to the parking lot together.

“I hope you two have a really good Thanksgiving.” Poe says with a genuine smile, weirdly glad that he ended up at the supermarket across town.

He accepts a hug from Sarah, who wishes him a Happy Thanksgiving as well, and he high-fives Tara, who waves merrily as she and her mother walk away. It’s a much more high-spirited ride back to his house, and Poe even flips to the Christmas music station (even though it isn’t after Thanksgiving, technically, and the thought of Christmas without the woman he loves kind of makes him want to barf) and sings along with Bing Crosby for a while.

Poe and Beedle hop out of the car about an hour after they left - talking to Sarah and Tara had increased the length of his absence from the house - and re-enter the warm and cheerful interior, Poe holding the cranberry sauce aloft like Simba. “Victory!” He declares, and Kes crows excitedly.

“Thank you!” He wraps his arms around Poe and kisses his cheek obnoxiously. Poe swats at him before hugging his dad back; he unclips Beedle’s leash and harness, and the terrier cocks his head, scenting the air. He barks once and then stares up at Poe.

“Smells good, right buddy?” He pets his dog, who continues to stare at him, before his nose twitches and Beedle stares down the hallway, his tail at attention. “God, I think the smell of the turkey broke Beedle.” Poe laughs and then heads back to the living room to finish watching the game. Finn’s awake now, and nods at Poe.

“Sup?”

“You owe me.” Poe jabs his finger at Finn and collapses onto the couch with a groan.

Dinner is served not too long after that, and Poe is the last to sit, having been the one to bring the food from the kitchen to the dining room.

The table seats five, and Kes, Rose, and Finn are already in their chairs; Poe goes to sit at his regular seat, and forces himself to swallow past the lump in his throat, the lump that formed the second he saw the empty seat across from him, the one that won’t be filled tonight or any time soon. Kes catches the expression of grief on his face, no matter how quickly Poe forced it away, and he grabs Poe’s hand and squeezes.

Rose smiles at him, a bittersweet smile, and Finn eyes the chair with wet eyes. Beedle curls up under his chair, a soft noise of concern, and Poe makes himself smile, makes himself look away from the unbearably empty seat across from him.

“Let’s say what we’re thankful for, shall we?” Kes suggests, and it’s another Dameron tradition. Poe nods, and his dad starts. “I’m thankful for my brilliant and beautiful son, who indulged his father and went and got an item that probably no one’s going to eat.” They all laugh at that, and in the back of his mind, Poe scrambles to pick the best thing that he’s thankful for.

 _I’m thankful that the crash only took my ability to fly and gave me life-long brain trauma, and didn’t kill me._ Nope, too serious.

 _I’m thankful that Rose didn’t let dad make the pie._ Nope, too mean.

 _I’m thankful for stretchy pants._ Nope, too glib.

Rose goes after his dad. “I’m thankful that Finn was able to get a new job, far away from those bastards at the First Order.” They all toast to that, and Finn grins and kisses his wife on the side of her head.

“Well, I’m thankful that the Bears destroyed the Lions,” Finn declares. “Also, I’m thankful that Kes was willing to feed all four of us.”

“Three of us,” Rose corrects with a sharp look, and Finn raises his eyebrows at her. Poe frowns at the bizarrely silent conversation that follows.

“Kes has to eat too,” Finn says snidely. “Goofball.” Rose sticks her tongue out at him, and they poke each other playfully. Poe snorts and sips his rootbeer.

“Well, I’m thankful for you weirdos,” Poe declares, and his friends grin at him. “And...I’m thankful for Skype. I wish she was here, but I’m glad I was able to see Rey this morning.”

He doesn’t mention that he’d cried for almost an hour afterwards, still uncontrollably emotional at unexpected (and honestly, expected) times. At least she hadn’t waited until today to let him know that she ‘had no idea when she was coming home.’

“Hear, hear.” Kes raises his glass for a toast, and they all dig in after clinking their bottles together. Not five seconds after dishing out potatoes onto his plate, Kes groans and looks around the table. “The candlesticks!”

“What about the candlesticks?” Poe asks.

“Your mother’s candlesticks.” Kes looks around wildly. “I meant to put them out.”

“They’re in the closet in the guest bedroom.” Poe’s already standing up, and he waves at Finn to sit back down. “I’ll grab them.” Beedle stands with him, and they leave the dining room. He doesn’t miss the look Finn and Rose exchange - _that’s weird_ \- but he goes anyway, only slightly rolling his eyes at his dad’s forgetfulness.

Beedle half-barks at him when he goes to open the door, and Poe freezes for a second. _Is he about to_ \- no, Beedle tries to get him to sit down when he smells something change in Poe’s body chemistry. Shrugging, he pushes the door open, and flips the light on.

Poe grips the doorframe to stop himself from falling over.

_Rey is here._

She’s standing in the middle of their guest bedroom, wearing jeans and an ugly Christmas sweater, her hair up in a ponytail; she looks utterly exhausted, but her smile is breathtaking, and Poe’s knees are weak just looking at her.

“Rey?” He stumbles forward, blinking rapidly - _did he fall asleep on the couch when he got back? Is he still asleep from this morning_?

“Hey.” She’s sniffing and holding her arms out, and Poe crashes into her. He is absolutely delighted to realize she is absolutely real, and she is absolutely warm in his arms. He runs his hands along her back and shoulders and then up to frame her face lovingly.

“Sweetheart,” he whispers, leaning in to kiss her briefly, and Rey hums in approval, her eyes fluttering shut. “Oh my God.”

“Surprise!” Kes, Finn, and Rose shout as a trio from the doorway, and Poe bursts into tears. Embarrassing ones. Ugly ones. Full-on sobbing.

“Oh my God,” he repeats like a broken record. “ _Oh my God._ ”

“We’ll let you two-” “Mhm-” Rose and Kes speak together, the door snapping shut behind them, and Poe clings to Rey, sobbing into her neck as she tries to comfort him.

He’s missed her so much, and she’s _here,_ this is _real,_ this is his Sunshine, and she’s right in front of him. He’s barely been holding it together since she left four and a half months ago, going out of his mind with worry - he’d crashed, so _she_ might crash, and while Poe knows he’s had some pretty solid luck, he always frets that it’s run out, and Rey will pay the price - and somehow having her here makes it all feel a thousand times worse, the weeks and weeks of anxiety and loneliness finally making him collapse now that she’s safe and next to him.

She kisses his temple and scratches his scalp, at his hairline, and they rock back and forth together, whispering quiet secrets that aren’t so secret to each other.

Poe pulls it together eventually, and manages to kiss Rey for real, her nimble fingers wiping away what’s left of his tears from his cheeks. She tastes a little bit like travel and mint toothpaste and a lot like home, and Poe sighs happily.

“Food?” Rey asks hopefully, her stomach rumbling audibly - Poe laughs - she must have been waiting in here this whole time, his dad’s ploy to get him out of the house for almost an hour suddenly much more visible.

“Food,” Poe agrees. Then, he groans.

“What is it?” Rey cocks her head at him, and he smiles at her guiltily.

“I just...I’m going to have to sit through a whole meal and pretend that I don’t want to take you upstairs and make love to you until Christmas,” Poe admits, ducking his head bashfully. Rey giggles and pets his beard.

“I mean, same.” She kisses his cheek and rubs her nose next to his. “I love you so much.” It feels like something snaps behind his heart, and the room blurs when new tears fill his eyes.

“I love you.” Poe wraps his arms around her again and hides his face in her shoulder, slightly embarrassed to be crying again. “I’m so glad you’re home.”

“I know.” Rey, always somewhat tense, a combination of her upbringing and then her military training, relaxes in his arms, sinking into him the way he’s trying to sink into her, and they hold each other tightly while the merry sounds of their family gathered in the dining room float past them. “Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Thanksgiving!!!
> 
> And a huge shoutout to all military personnel and their families <3


End file.
